Mediterranean Enriched Diet for Tackling Youth Obesity

Summary

The prevalence of obesity is one of the main public health problems worldwide, reaching 18% among young people between 5 and 19 years of age in 2016. One possibility of effective treatment can be the Mediterranean diet (MD). Therefore, it is proposed to carry out a nutritional intervention based on this diet to more effectively reduce obesity in adolescents. The main purpose of this multicentre study is to assess whether an energy-restricted Mediterranean-style diet (MD) intervention including healthy products from the Mediterranean basin (mixed nuts, pomegranate and hummus) and sourdough bread is more effective against obesity and associated CVD risk factors than a conventional low-fat diet carrying out a multicentre nutritional and clinical intervention study specifically targeting obese/overweight adolescents (13-17y) from different Mediterranean countries; all combined with an educational web-application designed to encourage healthy behaviours.

It is a multicenter, randomized, controlled intervention study conducted with adolescents with obesity/overweight ≥90 percentile who do not suffer from any chronic disease. 240 subjects will be recruited from three Mediterranean countries: Italy (Parma), Portugal (Coimbra) and Spain (Reus), specifically 80 participants per country, 40 adolescents as an intervention group and 40 as a control group, in Reus. The intervention study is scheduled to begin in January 2021.

The intervention group will receive a diet based on the characteristics of MD, and will be reinforced with satisfying and healthy Mediterranean foods such as sourdough bread (2 servings of 50-60g / day), squeezed pomegranate (4 servings of 200ml / week), hummus/chickpeas (2 portions of chickpeas of 150-200g / week, one in hummus format) and mixed nuts (4 servings of 30g / week); and the control group will receive a recommended diet based on the consumption of low-fat foods. A caloric restriction of 20% of the total energy requirements will be applied to both groups in adolescents with BMI ≥95 percentile (obesity) and a caloric restriction \<20% of the total energy requirements will be applied in adolescents with BMI ≥90 to \<95th percentile according to overweight (gender/age / physical activity). The diet will be applied for 4 months in both groups. Adolescents from both groups will be given a motivational interview and will be provided with an educational website that will be used during the intervention, through which they will learn.

Conditions

• Obesity, Adolescent
• Lifestyle, Healthy
• Diet, Healthy
• Cardiovascular Risk Factor

Interventions

OTHER

Diet and behavioural intervention

Intervention will receive a specific diet designed following the characteristics of Mediterranean Diet

OTHER

Diet and behavioural intervention

Control group will receive a specific diet designed following the characteristics of Low fat Diet.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Parma

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Coimbra

  collaborator OTHER

• Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus

  collaborator OTHER

• Fundació Eurecat

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Antoni Caimari, PhD · Eurecat-Reus

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

13 Years

Max Age

17 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-05-25

Primary Completion

2023-10-09

Completion

2023-11-28

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations